Last week, I posted about my Horst Bandel bread from Hamelman's Bread. At first glance the crumb images looked good and the flavor was very good. However after some reflection on the bread and the process I decided my initial declaration of victory may have been over stated. While my first attempt was acceptable for a first try, I suspect I have much to learn about this style of bread.

I have been having conversations with Mini and Andy (ananda) about the process and specifically the temperature profile to arrive at a well baked loaf. Along the way I have been talking with qahtan about puddings of various types. There was a most interesting thread on puddings which made me wonder if Pumpernickel isn't really just another steamed pudding without the fruits. After all you cook it in a closed pan at low extended heat and after wards stabilize the moisture by wrapping in towels. The word Pudding has me first thinking about chocolate or lime and a box of Jello but apparently the British and many other Europeans refer to steamed bread by the same term.

I looked at some videos on how to make a proper Christmas Pudding. The example was shown placing a quantity of wet looking dough in a glass pan, covering it with parchment and foil, then tying a string around the foil cover. The whole thing gets placed in a hot oven and slowly cooked in a lowering oven to arrive at a well caramelized crumb, deep in color and full of flavor with a soft crust. That's exactly what I want for my Pumpernickel.

So, to sum up. I discovered that the bottom of my crust from my first try was quite a bit drier and harder than the sides. I decided to place the pan on a wire roasting rack instead of directly on the hot stone. Thinking is that I'll get a less direct and harsh heat. I took my best guess on how much dough to load in the pan and let it proof. When it was again within 1/4 inch of the top, I removed some of the dough from the top as you can see in the photo. That shot is taken after proof and after I removed an additional amount. Next I placed a piece of parchment over the bread and slid the cover on. It was then weighted down with a cast iron griddle to be sure it didn't pop off again and also to be sure it was sealed.

I made additional dough so I would have enough to try a glass pan at the same time. My thinking was that the thicker walls of the glass pan would temper the direct heat and not dry out the bottom crust. Also I had the chance to try out the paper/foil cover tied on with a string.

The breads were loaded into a preheated 350F oven and baked as above for 30 minutes. At this time the heat was lowered to 250F for 2 hours. The final reduction was to 220F for another 6 hours approximately. At this time (6AM) I turned the oven off and let the heat coast down for the next 4 hours. The internal temp was 204F when I checked after the 6 hours at 220F. Both loaves popped out of the pan easily and were well shaped. They are now wrapped in a towel awaiting the Pumpernickel Fairy to tap me on the head and say they are ready to eat. I will post the crumb images when available. Some of these are a little out of order, sorry but they should make sense. I thought anyone who might be thinking of making this bread might like to see the steps I used to get this far.

Eric

Added the Crumb Image by edit:

The Pumpernickel Fairy made a low pass on the flight deck this morning and gave me a frown. It has been 24 hours since I wrapped the bread in a towel and placed it on the wire rack (thanks Mini). I unwrapped it and sliced off a few slices to see the results. First, I will now confess I made a mistake with the mix, which was in following the directions as written. On page 223 Item 4.) Mixing, Hamelman says "Add all the ingredients to the bowl, including the sour-dough and both of the soakers, but do not add any of the final dough water reserved from squeezing the liquid from the old bread soaker". I take that to mean that I should add the amount of water in the final dough segment of ingredients (page 222 bottom). The water amount is 12.8 Oz (1-5/8 cups). The first time I made this I with held that water and found I didn't need it. This time I needed an additional 16+ Oz of bread flour to get to a reasonable dough. The amount must be a misprint as I can not see where the differences in rye flours would make that much of a difference. JH goes on to say "It is entirely possible that no additional dough water will be required".

So, bottom line is that this batch has way more white flour in it than was called for, percentage wise. It isn't nearly as flavorful as the last batch. The edges are hard now but they will soften up some after it has sat a day or so in a plastic bag. It has a nice flavor and my wife and are enjoying some with cream cheese. Turn the page and start over she said (Pumpernickel Fairy)

Pleated paper over glass pan

Proofed, removed some dough, ready to cover

Wrapped and tied.

In oven covered and weighted down

Pullman ready to cover

Covered with paper ready to bake

After bake, paper is wet from steaming.

Perfectly formed top.

After bake, foil removed, wet paper.

Clean slightly domed top.

Side view of glass pan shows solid loaf.

Turned over on board. Well shaped loaves

I think this is the way they should look?

Waiting for the Pumpernickel Fairy!

This is a bread that I have been wanting to try for some time. Jeff Hamelman did a great job of presenting it in his book, "Bread" and the story that goes with how he learned about it is heart felt. This style of bread is a long way from just about everything you might be familiar with. It isn't airy and light. It doesn't have a beautiful crust in the traditional way we usually think of a nice golden color, expanding at a well placed slash. What it is, is a compact, almost waxy mass of slowly baked rye and wheat dough in a high hydration formula. It is baked in a covered Pullman Pan with straight sides for 12 hours at slowly reducing temperatures.

Before I attempted this bread, I looked at txfarmers thread from last year where she posted about her attempt and learned a lot about the process. If you are interested in baking this, I suggest reading this thread first.

I had the opposite results as far as rising during baking as txfarmer. I apparently had to much dough in the pan and although it had risen to within 1/2 inch of the lid during proof, I checked after 1 hour of baking to find the lid had been blown off the pan. Hmmm. I got my trusty serrated bread knife and sawed the dough level with the pan top, replaced the lid and pretended like that was part of the plan.

To back up a little, Hamelman says the bake time should be around 12 hours but that includes some time in the oven after it is turned off. I didn't get a good feel for how much time at what temperature so I improvised a little.  I preheated my fire brick in a pan I use for steam, the stone I sometimes use and a 1/2 box of unglazed tiles in a 350F oven. I figured the additional thermal mass would give me a slowly cooling environment similar to a WFO or a big commercial oven like Jeff has to play with.

There are a lot of variables on the path to a great Horst Bandel. It took me a while to get the required rye components together and the Pullman Pan on the same day. I used freshly ground whole rye, rye meal and rye chops from flourgirl51 and her wonderful Organic grain/flour mill. Surprisingly the various forms of rye are hard to come by here in the upper Midwest of the US. When I discovered I could get everything from one known source, I got myself into gear and started the ball rolling to learn this bread.

Here are a few images I took as an after thought after the bake. I'm very happy with the results of my first attempt but there is room for improvement. This isn't rocket science but, it is chemistry. I went pretty much by the book and got a good result. I plan on adjusting the volume of dough, baking temp profile and cooking of the whole berries on the next attempt.

If you try this bread, you must be prepared for a flavor experience that is so full I would call it "adult". If you appreciate fine smoked meats and fish, capers or black caviar on cream cheese or dry butter, then this is for you. It is that good.

Thank you Jeffrey. And thank you Mini and txfarmer for your assistance.

Eric

Well, I'm just about to pull my first loaves of Marble Rye out of the oven! :) I can't wait to taste it.  Recipe to follow.

Rick

Wake and Bake Bread Co.

Loaves in the couche after a 3 hour fermentation.

The final product.

The best part, the spiraled crumb! :)

I will post the recipe soon!

Every Christmas Eve, I bake about 50 loaves of bread and deliver to friends and family.  I've been doing this for about 25 years.  I have a bad back, and I cant seem to take the long day of mixing and baking anymore, so I've moved to naturally fermented breads over the last few years.  Generally that's been a help as I easily have my dough ready for shaping and baking in the morning, pushing half the work into the day before.  Now, I'd really like to push the shaping to the night before as well, dealing only with baking the day before Christmas.

I'm currently working on this year's recipe, and plan on going with an onion pumpernickel.  I have the flavor profile under control, and my first test run went pretty well.  The 2nd not as good as I believe the dough overproofed and was too slack as it went into the oven; didn't get the height I was looking for.  Crumb was fine, just not an appealing final shape.

For purposes of discussion, I'm using KA flours, about 23% pump, 23% dark rye, 54% all purpose. 70% hydration. Starter was about 5% of flour weight.  This last batch I even raised the salt a bit to about 2.5%. (you can find the full recipe HERE )

I'm looking for suggestions to help the loaves survive a long (maybe up to 12 hours until the final loave gets baked) final proof and still look shapely coming out of the oven.  I also had a problem with the dough sticking to a well floured couche after such a long proof.  I'd rather not reduce the hydration much as I liked the crumb, but realize that may have to be the final solution.  I'm thinking of moving the all purpose flour to high gluten, or even clear, to survive that long proof.

While I'm no stranger to using a starter, there are obviously members here far better versed than I am.  I believe I might be able to add some strength by increasing the percentage of starter as well.  I'd really appreciate any/all suggestions.

--Warren

I've successfully made Bernard Clayton's Buttermilk Whole Wheat Rye Bread as a marble rye.  Could I use pumpernickel flour instead of the rye flour and add cocoa powder?  I'm wanting to use up some pumpernickel flour and have been having bland results with the recipes I've been trying out.  They don't taste much like the pumpernickel breads I enjoy!  I know this is to be expected without a sourdough starter, but would using the buttermilk rye recipe (which also includes caraway seeds) work?

Has anyone ever added kitchen bouquet as colouring for pumpernickel?  It is a burnt caramel syrup with a little salt and essence of vegetables.  It is normally used to brown gravy or add flavour to stews/soups.  If so how much did you add?  I want to try it in Greenstein's pumpernickel.  I just made another pumpernickel that used espresso powder, chocolate, and prune juice but it had a yucky burnt flavour. 

Thanks.

While I said I was tired of rye, I still haven't done a true pumpernickel. My husband loves dark, bitter breads. It doesn't seem to get much darker or more bitter than this. I think I'm going to bake a light rye on the side so -I- have something to eat this week, too!

Has anyone used the recipe for this from Reinhart's "Whole Grain Breads" pg 224-227 (Hey, nothing intimidating about 3 pages of instructions, right!?).

I've converted a bit of my spelt starter over to a mostly-rye starter, and I've got a bit of my wholegrain sourdough that I made last week (The 'Dr. Evil Bread' as I called it) cubed up and soaking to make the altus for it. Heck, I even went out and bought a candy/deep fryer thermometer just for this after having my yogurt not quite cooperate last week for the sourdough English muffins (FWIW, you -can- do a second innoculation of yogurt that's in a yogurt maker if it isn't curdling properly!).

Reading the instructions 2-3 times is one thing. Having any commentary from someone who's actually made this would be invaluable. I still can't find truly coarse-grind (pumpernickel grind) flour anywhere, and I'm just not willing to buy it, so I've got some of Bob's Red Mill Dark Rye for this project. I'll be omitting the optional diastatic malt powder. I do have the rye berries - should I throw some into the food processor use that in the mash where it asks for "whole rye meal or rye flour" rather than sticking with just the dark rye?

I recently bought Reinhart's WGB and have been reading and re-reading the Bavarian Pumpernickel recipe and my girlfriend keeps asking why I'm drooling. Silly me, I'm going to attempt something that might be beyond my abilities.

If anyone has made this, or if you can answer anyway, I have a question:

I found a slightly dented Pullman Loaf pan on discount. It is a 13"x4"x4" and says it is for a 1.5lb loaf. Reinhart's recipe is for 1482 grams or roughly 3.23 lbs., yet he talks about a single 4"x8.5" loaf pan.

So...Do I need to split the recipe, or does the fact that it is a rye bread mean my pan size will work? Is that 1.5lbs for a "normal" white bread loaf?

Any other tips?

Thanks,

John

Seems appropriate to make my first blog post about pumpernickel. Mentioned in my intro post yesterday that it was Horst Bandel's Black Pumpernickel in Jeffrey Hamelman's book Bread that brought me to The Fresh Loaf. Growing up in multi-cultural Winnipeg, Manitoba, I was exposed to so many wonderful ryes. So while I was at baking school, I made whatever breads (and other things) we were assigned and then worked overtime on the ryes.

To say there's a learning curve with true pumpernickel is an understatment! Made JH's recipe countless times. Thought I'd share pictures of the first decent loaf I produced, along with the grateful and happy email I sent to  my instructor in the wee hours that day before graduation. I might flub picture posting this first try. Bear with me.

The final dough, ready for the pan:

After the long night's bake:

The crumb:

Email to my instructor (excerpt):

"Best graduation present ever! I seem to have cracked the pumpernickel at last. Not completely there yet, as you can see from the concave bit, centre top. But I think I know how to solve that, too. Several insights made the difference... But most importantly, I saw a reference in side note on page 216 that his Pullman pans are 13" long rather than our 16". Meant I was vastly overproofing by trying to get the bread close to the top of the pan. Even overproofed this one because it was supposed to get 50 to 60 minutes and could not believe that it seemed to be ready at 20! I turned the oven on to preheat, and the loaf continued to rise before my very eyes like time-lapse photography. That's what produced the concave bit, I would guess. Could think of no one I'd rather share this joy with! And yes, that is one of the school's Pullman pans. It's right by my front door to bring back today."

Jewish pumpernickel is one of my favorite breads. I have made it only a couple times before, once from Greenstein's recipe in "Sectets of a Jewish Baker" and once from Reinhart's recipe in BBA.